284 The Poplars and Cottonwoods. 



1149. The raalo plants of the purple, black, yellow, and some 

 other willows, form very ornamental small trees, presenting a gay 

 and rich profusion of early blossoms the harbingers of summer, 

 and the first food of the bee. 



THE POPLARS AND COTTONWOODS (Genus Populus). 



1150. Of these there are about twenty species in the north tem- 

 perate zono of the old world and the new. They occur in North 

 America from the Arctic zone to Mexico, and throughout the whole 

 breadth of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



1151. THE AMERICAN ASPEN (Populus tremuloides). This tree is 

 extremely wide in its range. It abounds over the whole of the in- 

 terior of British Columbia, and towards the north and east, char- 

 acterizing some of the most fertile lands. In the southern part of 

 tho Province it is found usually along tho borders of streams, and 

 on the higher plateaux. In the Peace river country it comes up 

 after fires, and often grows to a diameter cf two feet. 



1152. The aspen is common throughout the region west of the 

 Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, upon the Pacific coast, 

 upon the slopes of mountains that border the sage plains, along the 

 courses of what in winter are running streams. 



1153. In the mountain regions of the interior it is commonly 

 called the "quaking asp," and grows in the upper valleys often in 

 dense groves, where it shows a tendency to succeed the coniferous 

 woods when they have been destroyed. Its wood is sometimes 

 burned into charcoal for smelting ores, and it has sometimes been 

 used for telegraph-poles and railway ties, but it is too soft and per- 

 ishable for any thing more than temporary employment in these 

 uses. 



1154. The aspen is used to a considerable extent for the manu- 

 facture of paper. The wood makes a very white pulp, but not as 

 strong as that from spruce. 



1 1 55. THE WHITE POPLAR (Populus alba) . This is a naturalized for- 

 eign species, sometimes called the " abele," " downy poplar," " silver 

 poplar," or " Dutch beech." It is said to be a native of Palestine, and 

 the timber is by some writers supposed to be the " shittirn-wood" 

 of Scripture, but more probably that was an Acacia. 



1156. This is a tree of remarkably rapid growth, and generally 

 it shows a strong tendency to send up shoots from the roots. This 



